kamisoka/iStock(NEW YORK) — From tourist centers to town squares, revelers across the world welcomed the new decade as they rang in the year 2020 Tuesday night.
In New York City, nearly a million and a half people jammed Times Square to watch the traditional ball drop. Confetti fell from the skies as revelers sang along to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
President Donald Trump, celebrating the new year in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort, took to Twitter to post “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
In Moscow, celebrants enjoyed unseasonably warm weather as they jammed Red Square for a fireworks display over the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his traditional new year’s greeting just moments before the clock struck midnight, saying, “As we look forward with excitement to the chiming of the bells, we believe and hope that all our wishes are bound to come true.”
In London, fireworks lit up the sky above the London Eye observation wheel on the River Thames as tens of thousands looked on.
Crowds in Paris filled the Champs-Élysées to watch fireworks soar over the specially-illuminated Arc de Triomphe as lasers shot from the historic arch.
Revelers in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrated with music and dancing in Kim Il Sung square.
In Brazil, fireworks rose over Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana beach as an estimated two million people jammed the shore and the surrounding area.
Revelers in Seattle, however, had to make due with a much quieter celebration, as high winds delayed the fireworks display that organizers had planned for the city’s Space Needle observation tower. When the clock struck midnight, celebrants were instead treated to a laser light show set to music.
In Rome, pilgrims crowded St. Peter’s Square to greet the Pope Francis, who called for kindness and understanding in his New Year’s Eve address.
God “delights in seeing how many acts of good are done every day,” the pope said. “We are called to encounter others and to listen to their existence, their cry for help. Listening is already an act of love.”
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